OWEN, LEWIS (1572 - 1629?), anti-Romanist propagandist

Born 1572 in Merionethshire. There is no certainty about his family connexions and it is doubtful whether he was the eldest son of Gruffydd Owen of Tal-y-bont, Llanegryn, 4th son of ' baron ' Lewis Owen of Llwyn, Dolgelley. He was admitted to Christ Church, Oxford, 14 December 1590, but left without graduating and went on a tour of the Continent. He is said to have been admitted to membership of the Society of Jesus but later became one of its most bitter enemies and was employed by the English Government as a spy. In 1626 he published The Running Register, recording a True Relation of the English Colledges, Seminaries and Cloysters in all Forraine Parts, etc., which throws considerable light on the history of those colleges and on the Welshmen who attended them. He was also the author of The Unmasking of all Popish Monks, etc., 1628, dedicated to Sir John Lloyd of Aberllefenni and Ceiswyn, and Speculum Jesuiticum, 1629. W. Llewelyn Williams says that he died in 1629.

Author

• Emyr Gwynne Jones, (1911 - 1972)

Sources

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the authorities quoted therein
• W. Llewelyn Williams, 'Welsh Catholics on the Continent' in The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1901-2, 90, 121-3
• W. Llewelyn Williams, The making of modern Wales: studies in the Tudor settlement of Wales (London 1919), 240-1
• Josiah Thomas Jones, Geiriadur Bywgraffyddol o Enwogion Cymru (Aberdâr 1867-70), ii, 352

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q5974169

Published date: 1959

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